A transport of Jewish prisoners marches through the snow from the Bauschovitz train station to Theresienstadt. [LCID: 69720]

Oral History

Browse an alphabetical list of survivors’ oral histories. These interviews describe firsthand accounts and personal experiences during the Holocaust and World War II.

Filter by title:

| Displaying results 1-16 of 586 for "Oral History" |

  • Abraham Bomba describes cleaning the gas chambers at Treblinka

    Oral History

    Abraham Bomba was imprisoned at Treblinka, the killing center overseen by commandant Franz Stangl. Abraham was raised in Czestochowa, Poland, and became a barber. He and his family were deported to the Treblinka killing center from the Czestochowa ghetto in 1942. At Treblinka, Abraham was selected for forced labor. He was forced to cut women's hair before they were gassed, and he sorted clothing from arriving transports. Abraham escaped from the camp in 1943 and made his way back to Czestochowa. He worked…

    Abraham Bomba describes cleaning the gas chambers at Treblinka
  • Abraham Bomba describes cutting women's hair before they were gassed in Treblinka

    Oral History

    Abraham was raised in Czestochowa, Poland, and became a barber. He and his family were deported to the Treblinka killing center from the Czestochowa ghetto in 1942. At Treblinka, Abraham was selected for forced labor. He was forced to cut women's hair before they were gassed, and he sorted clothing from arriving transports. Abraham escaped from the camp in 1943 and made his way back to Czestochowa. He worked in a labor camp from June 1943 until liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.

    Abraham Bomba describes cutting women's hair before they were gassed in Treblinka
  • Abraham Bomba describes gassing operations at Treblinka
  • Abraham Bomba describes the Treblinka gas chambers

    Oral History

    Excerpt from Holocaust survivor Abraham Bomba's oral history testimony describing gas chambers at the Treblinka killing center.

    Abraham Bomba describes the Treblinka gas chambers
  • Abraham Klausner describes encountering survivors of the Dachau camp

    Oral History

    Rabbi Abraham Klausner was a US Army military chaplain. He arrived in the Dachau concentration camp in May 1945. He was attached to the 116th evacuation hospital unit and worked for about five years in displaced persons camps, assisting Jewish survivors.

    Abraham Klausner describes encountering survivors of the Dachau camp
  • Abraham Klausner describes postwar efforts to reunite survivors

    Oral History

    Rabbi Abraham Klausner was a US Army military chaplain. He arrived in the Dachau concentration camp in May 1945. He was attached to the 116th evacuation hospital unit and worked for about five years in displaced persons camps, assisting Jewish survivors.

    Abraham Klausner describes postwar efforts to reunite survivors
  • Abraham Lewent describes conditions in Skarżysko-Kamienna camp

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent describes conditions in Skarżysko-Kamienna camp
  • Abraham Lewent describes conditions in the Warsaw ghetto

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent describes conditions in the Warsaw ghetto
  • Abraham Lewent describes deportation to and conditions in Majdanek

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent describes deportation to and conditions in Majdanek
  • Abraham Lewent describes food shortages after the invasion of Warsaw

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent describes food shortages after the invasion of Warsaw
  • Abraham Lewent describes hiding during a raid in which his mother and sisters were seized for deportation from Warsaw to Treblinka

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent describes hiding during a raid in which his mother and sisters were seized for deportation from Warsaw to Treblinka
  • Abraham Lewent describes his father's death at Majdanek

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent describes his father's death at Majdanek
  • Abraham Lewent describes hunger and death in the Warsaw ghetto

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Tags: ghettos Warsaw
    Abraham Lewent describes hunger and death in the Warsaw ghetto
  • Abraham Lewent describes performing forced labor in Warsaw and increased Polish antisemitism

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent describes performing forced labor in Warsaw and increased Polish antisemitism
  • Abraham Lewent describes the moments following his liberation from a death march from the Dachau camp

    Oral History

    Like many other Jews, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In 1942, as Abraham hid in a crawl space, the Germans seized his mother and sisters in a raid. They perished. He was deployed for forced labor nearby, but escaped to return to his father in the ghetto. In 1943, the two were deported to Majdanek, where Abraham's father died. Abraham later was sent to Skarzysko, Buchenwald, Schlieben, Bisingen, and Dachau. US troops liberated Abraham as the Germans evacuated prisoners.

    Abraham Lewent describes the moments following his liberation from a death march from the Dachau camp
  • Abraham Lewent recalls how he persuaded a doctor in the Skarżysko-Kamienna camp that he was fit to work

    Oral History

    Abraham Lewent (1924–2002) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924. The Lewent family was living in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Later, the Lewents were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In summer 1942, Abraham's mother and three younger sisters were rounded up during the Great Action—the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. They were likely killed upon arrival. Abraham was not caught in the Great Action, because during the round up he…

    Abraham Lewent recalls how he persuaded a doctor in the Skarżysko-Kamienna camp that he was fit to work

Thank you for supporting our work

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.